Medical school for Horton site gains support

MIDDLETOWN — A local doctor's proposal to bring a medical school to the soon-to-be-empty Horton campus of Orange Regional Medical Center has received a boost.

Alyssa Sunkin

MIDDLETOWN — A local doctor's proposal to bring a medical school to the soon-to-be-empty Horton campus of Orange Regional Medical Center has received a boost.

The governing board of the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, operated by the New York Institute of Technology, endorsed a proposal Friday to open a campus in Middletown.

"The NYIT board of trustees was briefed about the prospects of opening a branch of its osteopathic medical school in Middletown and endorsed and supported the continued exploration of the project," said Dave Marcus, director of media and public relations at the institute.

Dr. Ronald Israelski, an orthopedic surgeon, has been courting medical schools to set up shop here for the past two years. He says there's a need for education, including continuing education, in the mid-Hudson, with the nearest medical schools in Albany and in New York City. The board's support clears an important hurdle for the school's development.

"This project will have a tremendous impact on our entire region as it will improve health indicators, have great economic impact and provide for educational opportunities in the medical field not available in the Hudson Valley," said Israelski, Orange Regional's director of education.

"A medical school based in Middletown would generate significant health-care benefits for the entire region," Orange Regional CEO Scott Batulis said. "As Orange Regional Medical Center prepares to move to the new hospital this summer, we are excited that efforts to establish a medical school mirror our mission to improve the health of our community."

Israelski envisions the school setting up shop at Horton, which will be vacated during the summer when the new hospital opens. A class of 100 would earn doctor of osteopathic medicine degrees. Osteopathic doctors are licensed to practice the same scope of medicine and surgery as those who carry doctor of medicine degrees, but they tend to practice in primary care areas.

Israelski has reached out to 11 hospitals and specialty centers in Orange, Sullivan, Ulster and Greene counties to see if they would be willing to host students for clinical and residency rotations. Several have conceptually agreed.

In the future, Israelski hopes to incorporate allied health care, including physical and occupational therapy and nursing, into the school's program.

None of those details has been hashed out just yet. Still, for Israelski, earning NYIT's support is a critical step in making his dream a reality.

asunkin@th-record.com

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